Sabbath

Moses with the Tables of the Law by Guido Reni: God appointed the Sabbath day as the fourth of the Ten Commandment.

The Sabbath day is God’s commandment which originated from God’s rest on the seventh day after His six-day creation work. God said, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” as the fourth of the Ten Commandments.

Jesus set an example of keeping the Sabbath of the new covenant. Following Jesus’ example, the apostles and the saints of the early Church, too, kept the Sabbath of the new covenant. The Bible tells us that we must keep the Sabbath until the end of the age. The Sabbath is a sign between God and His people, and a symbol of the eternal rest; only those who keep the Sabbath of the new covenant can enter the kingdom of heaven.

Etymology

The Sabbath day is a day of rest. The Sabbath in Hebrew is Shabbath (שַׁבָּת), which derives from Shabath (.שָׁבַת), meaning “ceasing (from work), rest.” In Greek, the Hebrew word is transliterated into Sabbaton (σαββάτων).

Origin of the Sabbath

Seventh Day of Creation from The Bible in Pictures by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld: The Sabbath day originated from God’s rest on the seventh day after His six-day Creation.

The Sabbath originated from the fact that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth for six days and rested on the seventh day. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. This means that those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath can be blessed and sanctified. In the time of Moses, God appointed the Sabbath as the fourth of the Ten Commandments, and made it the day to commemorate the power of the Creator.

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God . . . For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

Exodus 20:8–11

Whenever God commanded His people to keep the Sabbath, He mentioned His work of creation of the heavens and the earth. So whenever we keep the Sabbath, God lets us remember His power as the Creator. Keeping the Sabbath day holy is the correct way to worship God the Creator.

Sabbath of the Old Testament

In the Old Testament times, the priests slaughtered lambs on the Sabbath and offered them as burnt offerings with blood, and they offered grain offerings and drink offerings with a certain amount of fine flour mixed with oil. They also baked twelve loaves of bread and set them on the table of pure gold before the LORD. The common people kept the Sabbath by doing nothing. Not only people but also livestock did not work, and they did not even light a fire.

Sabbath of the New Testament

• Jesus Christ Kept the Sabbath Day

Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda by Carl Heinrich Bloch: Jesus healed the sick on the Sabbath day.

The Sabbath of the Old Testament law was a shadow of what would happen in the New Testament times. The blood sacrifice of lambs on the Sabbath day was a pattern showing that Jesus Himself would shed blood for the salvation of mankind as the reality of the Old Testament sacrifice. Therefore, in the New Testament times when the reality has appeared, animals do not need to be offered any longer on the Sabbath day. Jesus taught that there is no need to sacrifice lambs on the Sabbath day as it was done in the temple of Jerusalem, and that we should worship God in spirit and truth, setting us an example of keeping the Sabbath with the Bible.

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.

Luke 4:16

Although Jesus was the spiritual High Priest, He did not keep the Sabbath by slaughtering lambs like the priests did in the Old Testament, but He reasoned with people with the Bible in the synagogue. When we look at the expression, “as was his custom,” we can understand that Jesus kept every Sabbath that way, not just once or twice.
The law forbidding working on the Sabbath day was also changed by Jesus. The Jews, who adhered to the Old Testament law, accused Jesus of violating the Sabbath when they saw Jesus’ disciples picking some heads of grain and when they saw Jesus healing the sick. However, Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, defended His disciples and healed the sick. As the way to worship God on the Sabbath was completely changed by Jesus, the disciples in the New Testament times kept the Sabbath in spirit and truth, following the example of Jesus.

• The Apostles Kept the Sabbath Day

Even after Jesus’ ascension, the apostles and the saints of the early Church kept the New Testament Sabbath. Apostle Paul who believed in Christ and became an apostle after Jesus’ ascension, too, kept the Sabbath every week, following the example of Jesus.

As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said.

Acts17:2–3

Apostle Paul told us to follow his example as he followed the example of Christ. The saints in the New Testament times should keep the Sabbath holy, following the example of the apostles who obeyed the teachings of Jesus.

• The Sabbath Day Must Be Kept Until the End of the Age

Jesus taught us that we must keep the Sabbath until the end of the age.

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” . . . Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

Matthew 24:3–21

When the disciples asked Jesus about the end of the age, He told them to pray that their flight in times of great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world, would not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. The reason was that if the great distress occurred in winter, the cold weather would intensify the suffering of the saints in winter; and if their flight took place on the Sabbath, God’s people would be unable to fully keep the Sabbath. This clearly proves that God’s people must keep the Sabbath until the last day when the last disaster occurs.

Jesus is God who foresees the end from the beginning. If God’s people did not need to keep the Sabbath until the end of the age, Jesus would not have said, “Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.”

That is why it is against the teachings of Jesus to insist that there is no need to keep the Sabbath in the New Testament times. In the Bible, there is no evidence that the Sabbath was abolished in the New Testament times or after the crucifixion of Jesus. God’s people should remember the teachings of Jesus and keep the Sabbath holy until the end of the age.

Blessings of the Sabbath

A Sign of God’s People

The Sabbath is a clear sign of God’s people. The saints come to know God who makes them holy through the Sabbath day, and God acknowledges those who keep the Sabbath day as His people.

“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.’ ”

Exodus 31:13–15

In the Old Testament times, God showed His firm will that anyone who did not keep the Sabbath had to be put to death. God wants to lead His people to salvation by making His people holy through the Sabbath.

A Day of Joy and Happiness

The prophet Isaiah listed the blessings that those who keep the Sabbath would come to receive in Isaiah 56.

“Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil . . . To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant-to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant-these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Isaiah 56:2–7

God said that He would joyfully lead those who kept the Sabbath day to the holy mountain of God and that He would willingly receive their sacrifices [worships]. In Isaiah 58, it is also written that those who keep the Sabbath holy will find joy in God.

The Sign of Eternal Rest

The Sabbath is a sign of eternal rest which the saints will have in the kingdom of heaven. The six-day Creation recorded in the book of Genesis is a prophecy that God will carry out the spiritual creation work for about 6,000 years. God’s taking rest on the seventh day after six-day Creation was a prophecy about the Sabbath of a thousand years which will take place after the completion of His work of redemption. Apostle John described the coming of the Sabbath of a thousand years as reigning for a thousand years after the work of redemption. God’s people who are saved will reign forever, but it was written that they will reign for a thousand years to teach us about 6,000 year-long work of redemption before the Sabbath of a thousand years. It is like working for six days before the Sabbath day, and farming for six years before the Sabbath year.
The Sabbath of a thousand years leads to the eternal rest. So in the book of Genesis, there is no mention of the end of the seventh day after the six-day Creation. With regard to the first six days, it is written, “There was evening, and there was morning,” but on the seventh day, there is no mention of “There was evening and there was morning—the seventh day.” This means that the Sabbath on the seventh day represents the eternal rest. Those who keep the Sabbath day holy every week, a sign of eternal rest, can enter the kingdom of heaven where they can enjoy the eternal rest.

The Biblical Sabbath Is Saturday

The blessed and holy Sabbath appointed by God in the beginning is the seventh day. Today, numerous churches keep worship service on Sunday, but according to various testimonies, such as the Bible and history, the correct biblical worship day is Saturday.

Mary Magdalene Encounters Jesus Risen by Heinrich Hofmann; Jesus was resurrected early on Sunday, the day after the Sabbath.

• Evidence 1. Bible

The Sabbath day is Saturday in calendar, today. Through the scene of Jesus’ resurrection in the Bible, we can confirm this.

When the Sabbath was over . . . When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

Mark 16:1–9

It is recorded in the Bible that Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week. Here, the first day of the week indicates the day after the Sabbath; because it is written that the first day of the week came after the Sabbath was over (Mk 16:1–2). Therefore, we can know that Jesus was resurrected the day after the Sabbath; and people know well Jesus was resurrected on Sunday. So in Today’s English Version, it is recorded in Mark 16:9, “After Jesus rose from death early on Sunday . . .” If the day after the Sabbath is Sunday, the Sabbath day is Saturday. Therefore, the biblical Sabbath is Saturday.

• Evidence 2. Catholic Catechism

The Roman Catholic Church, which keeps worship service on Sunday, admits that the biblical Sabbath is Saturday.

“	Not to mention other examples, is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify	“
— The Faith of Our Fathers, James C. Gibbons, Tan Books and Publishers, 1980, pp. 72–73

“	“I have read the Bible from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelations, and have found no reference to the duty of sanctifying the Sunday. The day mentioned in the Bible is not the Sunday, the first day of the week but the Saturday, the last day of the week.”	“
— The Faith of Millions, John A.O’Brien, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 1974, p 137

Nowhere in the Bible do we find a verse telling us to worship on Sunday. The Sabbath in the Bible is obviously Saturday.

• Evidence 3. Historical Records

Comparing two historical books written about the conquest of Jerusalem by the Roman general Pompeius, better known as Pompey, in 63 B.C., we can understand that the Sabbath in the Bible is Saturday.

Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, wrote that Pompey conquered Jerusalem by exploiting the fact that the Jews did not work on the seventh-day Sabbath. When Pompey led the army and surrounded the Jerusalem temple, he noticed that the Jews only defended their city, but did not initiate any attack on the seventh-day, Sabbath. Every Sabbath, the Romans filled the trenches and valleys surrounding the temple without any hindrance, and transported siege weapons. Eventually, the Jerusalem Temple fell within three months.
At the beginning of the third century, Cassius Dio, a Roman historian, wrote that the Romans had an opportunity to destroy the walls of Jerusalem because the Jews did not work on the “day of Saturn.”
This means that the seventh-day Sabbath, which the Jews kept, was the day of Saturn, that is, Saturday, to the Romans. Therefore, it is clear that the Sabbath, which Jesus and the apostles kept, was Saturday.

• Evidence 4. Everyday Language

Some languages bear a trace showing that the Sabbath is Saturday. In Spanish, Saturday is sábado, which means the Sabbath. The following is the example of the languages in which the Hebrew word for the Sabbath leaves traces in the word meaning Saturday.

Language	Saturday Notation
Spanish	sábado
Portuguese	sábado
Italian	sabato
Greek	Σάββατο (Savato)
Polish	sobota
Croatian	subota
Bulgarian	събота
Indonesian	hari Sabtu

Each Denomination’s Perspective on the Sabbath

Judaism

The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday. According to the Old Testament law where no work had to be done on the Sabbath, government offices, restaurants, and markets close and public transportation such as buses and trains cease to operate in Israel on the Sabbath. At home, two candles are lit on Friday before the sun goes down, and at the beginning of their Sabbath, they have a dinner with Sabbath bread and wine called “Challah.” The orthodox Jews, who strictly observe the Sabbath, are even forbidden to turn the electric switch on or off, so many of their houses have devices to turn off their lamps automatically. Hotels and high-rise apartments have elevators that automatically stop at every floor so that they do not need to press a button on the Sabbath day.
El Al Israel Airlines does not run on the Sabbath day. Since airports too stop taking off and landing, airlines have to adjust their timetables before or after the Sabbath. In the regions where the orthodox Jews live, they block the entrance so that foreigners and people from other regions cannot drive in their region on the Sabbath day. If someone drives in, the Jews there will throw stones to destroy the car.

Catholicism

The Bible says that the Sabbath is Saturday, but the Catholic Church established the doctrine of Lord’s Day (Sunday worship).

“	But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn’t it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not from the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Yes, of course, it is inconsistent; but this change was made about fifteen centuries before Protestantism was born, and by that time the custom was universally observed. They have continued the custom, even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text in the Bible.	“
— The Faith of the Millions, John O’Brien, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 1974, pp. 400–401

Sunday was a day for worshiping the sun, but the Catholic Church insists that the early Christians commemorated the resurrection of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Sunday, calling it "Lord’s Day."
The Catholic Church changed the fourth commandment about the Sabbath among the Ten Commandments, differently from the Bible. They changed the Ten Commandments in the 5th century, under the pretext of classifying them reasonably by substituting the commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” with the words, “Remember to keep holy the LORD’s Day.”

Protestantism

According to chapter 21 of “The Westminster Confession of Faith,” which contains the Calvinist faith, the Protestants claims: “The Sabbath day had always been the last day of a week from the creation of the world up until Jesus’ resurrection, but after Jesus’ resurrection, it changed to the first day of the week [Sunday].” They insist that Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2 are the records about the early Church keeping worship service on Sunday, the first day of a week. However, Acts 20 is about commemorating the Resurrection Day, and 1 Corinthians 16 is just a recommendation on how to give special offerings to help Jerusalem, not a record of every Sunday worship.

For details, refer to: Lord’s Day Worship (Sunday Worship)

The Seventh-day Adventist Church

The Seventh-day Adventist Church [SDA] considers that the day begins at sunset, and so they claim that the Sabbath begins from the sunset of Friday and ends at the sunset of Saturday. That is why they keep worship services in the evening of Friday, and morning and afternoon of Saturday. The SDA Church also claims that the Sabbath is God’s seal, quoting a verse from the Bible reading that the Sabbath is a sign between God and His people.

The Church of God Keeps the Sabbath Day

Worship service at New Jerusalem Pangyo Temple of the World Mission Society Church of God

The World Mission Society Church of God is the only church that keeps the Sabbath of the new covenant just as Jesus and His disciples did. According to the biblical time reckoning, the day begins when the sun rises; therefore the Church of God keeps worship services on Saturday in the morning, afternoon, and evening. The Church of God celebrates the power of God Elohim the Creator on the Sabbath, and believes that the Sabbath is a sign between God and His people and a symbol of the eternal rest.

See also

• Ten Commandments
• New Covenant
• Lord’s Day Worship (Sunday Worship)
• The Feasts of God
• Teachings of Jesus Christ

Related videos

• Sermon: God’s Blessing & the Sabbath

• When Do You Go to Church?